On Tuesday, Aston Villa were working to secure a deal for Atletico Madrid’s Mattero Ruggeri. Lucas Digne was first choice left-back for Unai Emery last season, and he’s on his way to Paris Saint-Germain.
Getting in a quality replacement for the Frenchman has been paramount for Aston Villa this summer. The Premier League club identified Ruggeri and have been working quickly to find an agreement with Los Rojiblancos.
Aston Villa have now reached an agreement
Marca, who were first with the news on Tuesday, report there’s an agreement between Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid.
The Premier League side will pay Atletico a fixed fee of €18m. On top of that is a further €6m in potential bonus payments.
Marca state: ‘Following a meeting between Atletico Madrid’s agents, Tullio Tinti and Manuel Montipó, and Mateu Alemany at El Cerro on Monday to discuss the club’s interest, negotiations between Atletico and Aston Villa have come to fruition. The English club will reportedly pay a fixed fee of €18m plus an additional €6min add-ons.’
Matteo Ruggeri now has to give the green light
The defender must now approve his transfer to Aston Villa. That’s expected to happen quickly, despite interest from elsewhere.
AS Roma and Juventus have shown interest. More interestingly, Newcastle United and Liverpool have both made last minute attempts to snatch the transfer from Aston Villa.
Neither club has been able to do so.
What happens with Ruggeri now
Matteo Ruggeri has been training separately from the Atletico Madrid training group this week.
Diego Simeone’s side are set to go on a pre-season tour to South Korea. The Aston Villa bound defender, will not be travelling to Asia.
That flight is due to take off today, so it shows how quickly this transfer is moving.
The 24-year-olds’s statistics for last season are as follows:
| Overal stats 2025/26 | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 47 |
| Minutes | 3485 |
| Assists | 7 |
| Yellow cards | 7 |
| Red cards | 0 |
